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AUTHOR: 


CHUBB,  PERCIVAL 


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THE  ORIGIN  AND 
GROWTH  OF  .... 


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PRESERVATION  DEPARTMENT 


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JAN 


Ethical  Pamphlets 
No.  4 


THE  ORIGIN  AND 
GROWTH  OF  THE 
ETHICAL 
MOVEMENT 


By  Percival  Chubb 
Assistant  Leader 
of  the 

New  York  Society 
for  Ethical  Culture 


I    i 


THE    ORIGIN    AND  GROWTH    OF   THE 
ETHICAL    MOVEMENT. 

By  PERCIVAL  CHUBB. 


{Reprinted  by  permission  from  the  Encyclopedia  Americana.) 

The  first  Ethical  Society  was  established  and  the  Ethical 
Movement  inaugurated  in  1876  in  New  York  by  Felix  Adler,  then 
a  lecturer  at  Cornell  University.  In  response  to  a  call,  several 
hundred  persons  met  in  May  at  Standard  Hall,  and  at  the  con- 
clusion of  Prof.  Adler's  address,  outlining  the  purpose  and  spirit 
of  the  proposed  organization,  the  Society  for  Ethical  Culture  of 
New  York  was  constituted.  In  this  address  he  appealed  to  his 
auditors  to  unfurl  a  new  flag  of  peace  and  conciliation  over  the 
bloody  battlegrounds  where  religions  had  fought  in  the  past ;  he 
laid  stress  upon  the  urgent  need  of  a  higher  and  sterner  morality 
to  cope  with  the  moral  perils  of  the  hour,  especially  noting  the 
growing  laxity  that  accompanied  the  decline  of  discredited  forms 
of  religious  belief ;  and  he  placed  peculiar  emphasis  upon  the 
duty  of  caring  for  the  moral  education  of  the  young.  The  society 
thus  initiated  grew  rapidly,  and  soon  gave  practical  effect  to  his 
programme.  Within  a  few  years  it  had  established  a  free  kinder- 
garten for  the  children  of  the  poor,  the  first  of  its  kind  in  New 
York;  and  this  developed  into  a  workingman's  school,  based 
upon  the  Froebelian  pedagogy,  which  was  the  first  school  to 
introduce  manual  training  and  systematic  ethical  instruction  into 
the  curriculum.  It  also  inaugurated  a  system  of  trained  nurses 
for  the  poor,  which  has  since  become  an  adjunct  of  dispensary  out- 
door relief  in  the  city.  Nor  were  the  larger  social  and  political 
applications  of  morality  to  contemporary  life  neglected ;  its  leader 
devoting  special  attention  in  his  platform  utterances  to  the  labor 
problem  and  specific  social  reforms,  as  being  at  bottom  great 
moral  issues.  His  vigorous  exposure  of  the  evils  of  the  tenement 
houses  bore  fruit  in  the  creation  of  the  Tenement  House  Com- 
mission of  1884,  of  which  he  was  appointed  a  member.  He  also 
was  among  the  first  advocates  of  small  parks  in  the  congested 
districts,  of  public  playgrounds  and  public  baths ;  and,  above  all, 
of  greater  justice  and  humanity  in  the  relations  between  labor 
and  capital,  employer  and  employed.  The  Labor  party  here  found 
a  new  type  of  advocate ;  and  reformers  and  politicians  a  platform 
from  which  the  issues  of  the  hour  were  brought  to  the  touchstone 
of  ethical  first-principles. 

Meanwhile,  the  society  filled  more  and  more  the  place  of  a 
church  in  the  lives  of  its  hitherto  unchurched  members.     It  did 


not  neglect  the  problems  of  the  personal  life ;  but  aimed  to  illum- 
inate and  inspire  its  members  in  their  dealings  with  the  problems 
of  the  home  and  the  vocation,  family  relations,  marriage,  the 
training  of  the  young,  etc.  Its  position  as  a  distinctive  religious 
organization  became  better  understood  and  its  religious  appeal 
more  forcibly  felt,  while  its  practical  educational  and  philanthropic 
activities  continued  to  multiply.  Its  schools,  testifying  to  its  con- 
viction that  moral  improvement  must  begin  with  the  care  and 
education  of  the  young,  expanded  until  kindergarten,  normal  and 
high  school  departments  were  added.  These  have  for  some  time 
been  inadequately  housed.  The  Sunday  audiences,  too,  have  twice 
outgrown  their  accommodations.  To  meet  its  requirements,  the 
Society  has  erected  at  Central  Park  West  and  63d  Street,  a  thor- 
oughly modernized  school  building,  next  to  which  an  appropriately 
dignified  meeting  place  and  society-house  will  later  on  be  added. 
The  very  thoroughly  equipped  school-house  will  enable  the  so- 
ciety, in  greater  measure  even  than  in  the  past,  to  fulfil  its 
cherished  aim  of  having  a  model  and  experimental  school,  stand- 
ing for  the  highest  ideals  of  non-sectarian  education  and  the  most 
efficient  pedagogical  methods  of  realizing  them.  What  distin- 
guishes these  from  many  other  similar  schools  is  their  democratic 
organization  and  spirit :  like  the  public  schools,  they  educate  chil- 
dren both  of  the  well-to-do  and  of  the  poor,  that  is,  an  equal  pro- 
portion of  pay  pupils  and  pupils  admitted  under  a  system  of  free 
scholarships  endowed  by  the  Society. 

To  give  further  effect  to  its  conception  of  a  religious  society  as 
a  body  of  workers,  bent  upon  learning  by  doing  and  promoting 
piety  by  service,  the  society  opens  to  its  members  many  other  fields 
of  education  and  philanthropic  activity.  Here  the  women  of  the 
society  take  a  prominent  part.  Most  of  the  philanthropies  are 
affiliated  under  a  general  representative  body  known  as  the  Wom- 
en's Conference,  through  whose  recent  initiative  and  effort  the 
Manhattan  Trade  School  for  Girls  was  established.  Fortunate  in 
drawing  an  unusual  number  of  young  men  to  its  ranks,  the  So- 
ciety has  a  strong  Young  Men's  Union  which  contributes  largely 
to  the  support  of  two  neighborhood  houses :  the  Hudson  Guild,  on 
the  West  Side,  of  which  Dr.  John  Lovejoy  Elliott,  one  of  Prof. 
Adler's  associate  lecturers,  is  the  head  worker ;  and  the  Down- 
Town  Ethical  Society,  on  the  lower  East  Side.  The  Union  also 
owns  and  supports  a  summer  home  on  its  farm  of  70  acres  at 
Mountainville,  N.  Y.,  where  a  farm  school  is  held,  and  a  summer 
holiday  is  given  to  groups  of  the  boys  and  girls  who  belong  to  the 
Neighborhood  clubs.  The  larger  policies  and  relations  of  all  the 
working  bodies  of  the  society  are  considered  and  shaped  by  a 
Council  of  Fifty,  composed  of  representatives  from  all  of  them. 
One  other  event  in  the  history  of  the  society  that  calls  for  mention 


is  the  recent  appointment  of  Prof.  Adler  to  the  newly  created  chair 
of  poHtical  and  social  ethics  at  Columbia  University.  As  the  chair 
was  endowed  with  a  view  to  Prof.  Adler's  tenure  of  it  at  the  in- 
stigation of  some  members  of  the  well-known  Committee  of  Fif- 
teen appointed  by  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  to  deal  with  the 
social  evil  in  New  York,  of  which  committee  Prof.  Adler  was  an 
active  member,  this  appointment  is  a  remarkable  public  tribute  to 
the  large  public  place  which  the  founder  of  the  ethical  movement 
the  large  public  place  which  the  founder  of  the  Ethical  Movement 

Early  in  the  history  of  the  society,  a  number  of  young  men  were 
attracted  to  it,  and,  after  a  period  of  apprenticeship  in  New  York, 
went  forth  to  found  societies  in  Chicago,  Philadelphia,  and  St. 
Louis,  and  across  the  seas  in  London.  These  American  societies 
are  under  the  leadership  respectively  of  William  M.  Salter,  S. 
Burns  Weston  and  Walter  L.  Sheldon ;  and,  while  loosely  feder- 
ated in  a  union,  they  maintain  an  individuality  of  their  own,  and 
have  developed  different  forms  of  activity  according  to  local  needs 
and  circumstances.  They  all  hold  Sunday  exercises,  which  consist 
for  the  most  part  of  music,  readings,  and  an  address.  All  admit 
to  membership  on  a  simple  declaration  of  devotion  to  the  ethical 
ends  set  up.  All  attach  great  importance  to  the  moral  and  re- 
ligious education  of  the  young,  and  maintain  well-organized  Sun- 
day schools  and  associations  and  clubs  of  young  men  and  young 
women  devoted  to  the  same  end  and  to  various  kinds  of  practical 
work.  From  the  publishing  and  literary  headquarters  of  the  Ethi- 
cal Union  in  Philadelphia  (S.  Burns  Weston,  1305  Arch  Street) 
is  issued  monthly  ''Ethical  Addresses,"  containing  the  more  im- 
portant lectures  of  the  leaders ;  and  the  "International  Journal  of 
Ethics,"  under  a  committee  of  ethical  specialists  in  America  and 
Europe,  with  Mr.  Weston  as  managing  editor.  The  New  York 
society  publishes  bi-monthly  the  ''Ethical  Record,"  a  journal  of 
practical  ethics,  edited  by  Percival  Chubb,  also  one  of  Prof.  Adler's 
associate  lecturers.  Among  the  literary  products  of  the  American 
societies  are  Prof.  Adler's  "Creed  and  Deed,"  "Moral  Instruction 
of  Children,"  and  "Life  and  Destiny" ;  Mr.  Salter's  "Ethical  Re- 
ligion" ;  Mr.  Sheldon's  "An  Ethical  Movement,"  "An  Ethical  Sun- 
day School,"  and  "Old  Testament  Bible  Stories  as  a  Basis  for 
Ethical  Instruction  of  the  Young." 

That  the  movement  initiated  in  America  expressed  no  merely 
local  phase  of  religious  development  is  evident  by  its  still  more 
rapid  spread  in  Europe.  American  influences  led  to  the  establish- 
ment in  1886  of  the  London  Ethical  Society,  with  which  Profs. 
Muirhead,  Bosanquet,  Bonar,  and  others,  upon  whom  the  ethical 
influence  of  Thomas  Hill  Green,  of  Oxford,  had  been  profound, 
were  identified;  and  under  its  auspices  lectures  were  given  at 
Toynbee  Hall  and  elsewhere  by  many  men  at  the  universities  and 


I 

(4 


in  public  life  who  felt  the  importance  of  the  new  ethical  propa- 
ganda, such  as  Seeley,  Caird,  Leslie  Stephen,  etc.    About  the  same 
time  Dr.  Stanton  Coit  went  over  from  New  York  to  assume  {vice 
Mr.  Moncure  D.  Conway)  the  leadership  of  the  congregation  at 
South  Place  Chapel,  then  renamed  the  South  Place  Ethical  So- 
ciety, which,  after  a  brief  pastorate,  he  resigned  to  push  the  ethical 
cause  in  other  ways.     Under  his  energetic  leadership,  the  ethical 
societies  have  multiplied  rapidly  in  London  and  in  the  provinces, 
where  also  several  of  the  Labor  Churches  have  affiliated  them- 
selves with  the  ethical  movement.    A  Union  of  Ethical  Societies 
(14  or  more),  and  a  Moral   Instruction  League   (to  introduce 
systematic  non-theological,  moral  instruction  into  all  schools)  are 
in  vigorous  activity ;  a  weekly  paper,  "Ethics,"  has  been  main- 
tained for  several  years ;  and  there  has  been  a  considerable  output 
of  literature,  including  Dr.  Coit's  anthology,  "The  Message  of 
Man,"  a  "Collection  of  Ethical  Songs,"  and,  edited  by  him  for  the 
Society  of  Ethical  Propagandists,  a  volume  of  essays  by  different 
writers,  entitled   "Ethical   Democracy";  Quilter's   "Upward  and 
Onward,"  a  book  for  boys  and  girls ;  Sander's  "Reorganization  of 
the  People";  McCabe's  "Discipline  in  the  Roman  Church."     In 
London  there  is  also  an  independent  Ethical  Religion   Society, 
founded  and  led  by  Dr.  Washington  Sullivan.    Ireland,  likewise^ 
has  been  reached,  where  there  is  an  ethical  society  at  Belfast.    At 
Leicester,  Eng.,  F.  J.  Gould,  the  leader  of  the  Secularist  Society 
there,  has  advanced  the  ethical  instruction  of  the  young  by  his 
"Children's  Books  of  Moral  Lessons"   (two  series),  and  by  his 
effective  advocacy  of  the  cause  on  the  Leicester  School  Board, 
which  he  has  forced  to  take  an  advanced  position  on  the  subject  of 
moral  mstruction  in  the  board  schools. 

The  new  movement  was  finding,  meanwhile,  favorable  soil  on 
the  Contment.  A  centre  of  activity  was  established  at  Berlin, 
where  Prof.  Gizycki,  Prof.  William  Foerster,  and  others  identified 
themselves  with  the  cause.  Societies  were  in  time  established  at 
Munich,  Dresden,  Danzig,  Freyburg,  Stuttgart,  Breslau,  Frank- 
tort,  Jena,  Magdeburg,  Strassburg,  Ulm,  Konigsberg;  and  in 
Austria  at  Vienna,  in  Italy  at  Venice  and  Rome,  in  Switzerland 
at  Zurich  and  Lausanne;  and  in  France  through  the  Union  pour 
L  Action  Morale  (1891)  which  found  spokesmen  in  M.  Emil 
Uesjardins  (notably  in  his  stirring  brochure  "Le  Devoir  Pres- 
ent ),  and  in  other  well-known  writers.  Among  the  latest  addi- 
tions to  the  ethical  societies  is  one  at  Tokvo  in  Japan.  The  Ger- 
man societies  support  a  weekly  paper,  "Ethische  Kultur,"  pub- 
li^shed  at  Beriin ;  and  the  Parisian  society  a  monthly,  entitled  "La 
Cooperation  des  Idees." 

The  increasing  activity  in  these  European  centres  led  to  the 
establishment  of  an  international  organization,  with  a  central  sta- 


tion  at  Zurich,  and  Prof.  F.  W.  Foerster  as  secretary  and  or- 
ganizer.    Here  in   September,    1896,  an  International  Congress 
was  held,  which  issued  a  representative  manifesto.     It  is  largely 
colored  by  a  continental  sense  of  the  urgency  of  applying  ethical 
principles  in  the  domain  of  social  and  political  affairs.     It  an- 
nounced its  sympathy  with  the  efforts  of  the  populace  to  obtain  a 
more  human  existence,  but  recognized  as  an  evil  hardly  less  seri- 
ous than  the  material  need  of  the  poor,  the  moral  need  which 
exists  among  the  wealthy,  whose  integrity  is  often  deeply  im- 
perilled by  th^  discords  in  which  the  defects  of  the  present  in- 
dustrial system  involve  them.     It  demanded  that  the  social  con- 
flict should  be  carried  on  within  the  lines  prescribed  by  morality, 
in  the  interest  of  society  as  a  whole,  and  with  a  view  to  the  final 
establishment  of  social  peace.     It  appealed  to  the  ethical  societies 
to  provide  the  intellectual  armor  for  this  struggle,  and  to  all  their 
members  to  promote  the  progressive  social   movement  by  sim- 
plicity in  the  conduct  of  life  and  the  display  of  an  active  social 
spirit.     It  declared   (in  view,  doubtless,  of  prevailing  scepticism 
and  license)  the  pricelessness  and  indispensableness  of  the  insti- 
tution of  pure  monogamic  marriage ;  demanded  opportunity  for 
the  fullest  development  for  women ;  advocated  the  improvement 
of  the  lot  of  female  wage-earners  in  industrial  establishments ;  and 
made  a  strong  plea  for  the  restoration  of  lost  unity  in  the  educa- 
tional system  by  setting  up  a  common  ethical  purpose  as  the  aim 
of  all  culture.     It  declared  for  universal  peace,  and  against  mili- 
tarism and  the  national  egotism  and  jealousy  which  precipitate 
war.   Finally,  it  urged  upon  all  ethical  societies  not  simply  to  con- 
cern themselves  with  these  practical  issues,  but  to  devote  their  ut- 
most energy  to  the  building  up  of  a  new  ideal  of  life  in  harmony 
with  the  demands  of  modern  enlightenment.   This  manifesto  rep- 
resents most,  but  not  all,  of  the  leading  interests  of  ethical  so- 
cieties.    It  expresses  their  almost  universal  interest  in  the  social 
question,  and  their  desire  to  bring  theories,  policies  and  measures 
of  reform  to  the  test  of  ethical  principle ;  it  expresses  also  their  in- 
terest in  promoting  peace  and  an  education  animated  and  unified 
by  an  ethical  purpose.     It  does  not,  however,  lay  stress  upon  the 
relation  of  the  movement  to  modern  liberalism,  its  frank  accept- 
ance of  the  spirit  and  results  of  modern  science,  and  its  repudia- 
tion of  the  supernatural,  miraculous,  and  priestly  elements  in  re- 
ligion ;   nor  does   it  voice  the  deeper  religious   seriousness  and 
spirituality  of  the  movement.    By  some  of  the  leaders  this  latter  is 
very  strongly  emphasized ;  and  some  of  the  ethical  societies  are 
primarily  churches  for  inspiration  and  guidance  in  the  difficult 
effort  to  lead  the  good  life. 

While  the  inception  of  the  ethical  movement  was  due  to  the  in- 
sight and  prevision  of  Felix  Adler,  and  its  first  powerful  impact 


t 


due  to  his  attractive  eloquence  and   personal   power,   its   rapid 
growth  to  international  dimensions  is  clear  evidence  that  it  met  a 
deep  and  widespread  need.   It  was  fitly  born  on  American  soil ;  for 
a  new  ethical  religion  and  ethical  church  for  America  had  been 
definitely  prophesied  and  sketched  by  Emerson  in  his  later  essays 
on  ''Worship"  and  ''The  Sovereignty  of  Ethics."     He  had  said: 
"The  progress  of  religion  is  steadily  to  its  identity  with  morals. 
.     .     .     It  accuses  us  that  pure  ethics  is  not  now  formulated  and 
concreted  into  a  cultus,  a  fraternity  with  assemblings  and  holy 
days,  with  song  and  book,  with  brick  and  stone.     .     .     .     America 
shall   introduce  a  pure  religion.     .     .     .     There  will  be  a  new 
Church  founded  on  moral  science ;  at  first  cold  and  naked,  a  babe 
in  a  manger  again,  the  algebra  and  mathematics  of  ethical  law, 
the  church  of  men  to  come,  without  shawms,  or  psaltery,  or  sack- 
but  ;  but  it  will  have  heaven  and  earth  for  its  beams  and  rafters, 
science  for  symbol  and  illustration ;  it  will  fast  enough  gather 
beauty,  music,  picture,  poetry."     The  development  of  advanced 
Unitarianism  through  Channing  and  Parker  had  been  in  this  direc- 
tion.  It  had  two  practical  outcomes — the  Free  Religious  Associa- 
tion, which  still  holds  annual  sessions ;  and  the  Ethical  Movement. 
As  distinguished  from  the  Free  Religious  Association,  which  ex- 
pressed vaguely  the  libertarian  tendencies  of  Emerson's  thought, 
the  Ethical  Movement  gave  effect  to  the  positive  and  constructive 
tendency  which  found  clear  utterance  in  his  prophecy.    Although 
this  positive  spirit  was  present  in  the  religious  society  conducted 
in  New  York  by  Octavius  B.  Frothingham — who  was  wont  to  say, 
after  he  had  retired  and  it  had  disbanded,  that  its  legitimate  suc- 
cessor was  the  Society  for  Ethical  Culture — it  was  not  until  Felix 
Adler  brought  to  the  new  movement  at  once  an  ethical  outlook 
and  philosophy  learned  chiefly  in  the  school  of  Kant,  an  impas- 
sioned Hebraic  sense  of  religion  as  righteousness  of  life,  and  a 
practical  sense  of  the  urgency  and  ethical  import  of  the  great  im- 
pending moral  issues  in  the  social,  industrial,  and  political  world, 
that  conditions  existed  for  the  full  birth  of  the  new  ethical  re- 
ligion. 

The  most  distinctive  feature  of  this  new  phase  of  religious  de- 
velopment was  that  it  did  not  propose  to  add  to  the  religions  of 
the  past,  in  the  way  in  which  these  had  multiplied,  namely,  on  the 
basis  of  differences  of  speculative  belief.  Instead,  it  announced 
the  basic  importance  and  the  priority  of  the  ethical  factor  in  re- 
ligion. It  approached  religion,  not  from  the  credal,  but  from  the 
practical  moral  standpoint ;  and  it  saw,  in  a  common  affirmation  of 
this  priority  and  supremacy  of  virtue  and  the  good  life,  a  ground 
of  union  for  people  of  varying  philosophical  convictions,  or  none. 
Following  Emerson,  it  asserted  that  character  and  conduct  condi- 
tion  creed  and  thought ;  and  that  it  is  only  by  sowing  a  worthy 


character  that  men  can  reap  a  vital  and  meaningful  creed.  It  con- 
tended that  no  certain  and  lasting  basis  of  union  can  be  found  in 
anything  so  variable  and  personal  as  one's  philosophical  view  of 
the  world ;  and  that  no  one  should  pledge  his  intellectual  future 
by  subscribing  to-day  to  a  creed  which  to-morrow  he  may  out- 
grow. What  a  man  thinks  is  the  result  of  what  he  is, — the  out- 
come, therefore,  of  his  action,  his  experience,  his  effort  and  his 
love,  far  more  than  it  is  the  outcome  of  his  deliberate  thought  and 
accumulated  knowledge.  This  position  differed  from  that  of  the 
Comtian  Positivists,  because  theirs  assumed  a  final,  definite,  and 
in  some  respects,  very  negative  philosophy.  The  new  movement 
allowed  for  the  greatest  individual  differences  in  men's  philosophi- 
cal interpretation  of  life,  save  in  the  one  tenet  that  all  must  ac- 
knowledge the  sacred  obligation  imposed  by  man's  moral  nature 
to  live  the  good  life  and  to  follow  without  swerving  the  dictates 
of  duty  according  to  the  best  light  that  is  in  each. 

On  the  basis  of  this  moral  earnestness  and  this  attitude  of  moral 
resolve  men  may  safely  and  hopefully  work  backward  into  a 
philosophy  and  forward  into  a  faith.  Their  philosophy  and  their 
theory  of  moral  sanction  may  be  what  it  will,  theistic  or  pan- 
theistic, materialistic  or  idealistic;  it  may  or  may  not  issue  in  a 
faith  in  immortality,  conditional  or  absolute.  This  is  a  personal 
concern,  and  the  statements  on  such  matters  frequently  made  by 
the  leaders  of  ethical  societies  who  differ  much  in  their  philoso- 
phies, are  merely  expressions  of  personal  conviction,  and  not  made 
as  in  any  way  committing  the  societies.  This  is  to  make  a  clear 
distinction  between  the  private  and  the  public  factors  of  religious 
belief;  and  to  find  as  the  only  possible  basis  for  religious  union, 
for  those  who  would  jealously  guard  their  intellectual  integrity,  a 
moral  aim  by  which  any  man  should  be  ashamed  not  to  be  bound. 

The  ethical  movement  has  been  criticised,  notably  of  late  by 
Charles  Booth,  in  his  concluding  volume  reporting  the  life  of  the 
poor  in  London,  as  lacking  in  imaginative  color  and  appeal,  and 
therefore  unlikely  to  spread  among  the  masses  of  the  people. 
Perhaps  Emerson  was  right  in  emphasizing  the  austerities  of  the 
new  religion  in  its  early  protestant  phases.  But  at  heart  it  is 
genial  and  passionately  human.  It  has  nothing  sensationally  novel 
to  offer ;  it  does  not  compete  with  picturesque  claimants  like  The- 
osophy.  Christian  Science,  Vedantism,  etc.,  and  it  may  be  a  fact 
that  ''plain  goodness,"  "mere  morality,"  "the  beauty  of  holiness," 
will  not  yet  draw  many  with  their  old-new  evangel.  And  yet 
one  finds  among  its  adherents  nothing  less  than  a  new  type  of  re- 
ligious temperament,  voicing  a  new  imaginative  sense  of  the 
hidden  mysteries  and  wonders  of  the  moral  personality,  the  new 
unrevealed  heights  and  depths  of  the  moral  life,  the  unrealized 
joyousness  of  devotion  to  duty  and  to  service. 

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